Crossed, Triple-Crossed (comic book)
Crossed, Triple Crossed is the first comic in the Charmed Comics Volume 4 series and the nineteenth issue overall in the comic collection created by Paul Ruditis, published by Zenescope Entertainment. The comic serves as a Paige Matthews one-shot. Writing and Design Cover By: David Seidman Creator: Paul Ruditis Writer: Paul Ruditis Artist: Dean Kotz Colorist: Michael Spicer Letterer: Jim Campbell Editor: Ralph Tedesco Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment Date of Release: March 8, 2012 Quick Summary :"Their new baby came with some serious daddy issues." "When a criminal threatens Paige's happy family, she looks to her past to deal with the mortal menace. Conjuring up a detective from one of her favorite noir novels, Paige creates a street smart gumshoe to help set up a sting and take down the hood. But when the fictional private dick decides he likes life outside the pages, the set up takes a dark and dangerous turn in ... Crossed, Triple-Crossed."Paul Ruditius Teaser :Charmed #19 mini-excerpt: "It's spreading throughout the Manor." Plot As Paige Matthews and her husband Henry Mitchell meet with Bob Cowan in his office at Social Services, the three discuss how Paige and Henry's adoptive child, Henry's biological father has been located. Bob explains that since they've discovered who the father is, they have to inform him about Henry, Jr; this frustrates and annoys Paige. Paige explains that she does not want to hand over their child to a criminal and contemplates running away with her husband and their three kids. : Paige and Henry then begin to research their adoptive son's father's history on the Internet and discover that his family, known as the Mercers, is tied to various crimes (though it is mainly by reputation, as no one has ever been able to prove their crimes). Paige suggests that they hire a detective but Henry notes that it would cost too much money, money they don't have. Paige has another idea. : In Halliwell Manor, Paige travels to the Attic where she gathers ingredients, creates a potion and prepares a spell. Phoebe, who is three months pregnant, and Piper watch Paige as Piper points out the potential personal gain aspect of what Paige is doing, but Paige insists that it's for Henry Jr, that she's protecting the innocent. Paige completes her potion and recites a spell causing a flash of light to appear and a man steps into the attic, its a detective from a book Paige read. The man however is black and white and tells the sisters the normally he charges but for the three of them, he will wave his fee. He also tells them to call him Quinn after being referred to as Richard. Paige grabs him and they leave the Attic. : Paige uses the same method on Quinn that Phoebe used years prior on the movie character, Billy Appleby, she applies makeup to him to give him technicolor to look normal. : The two then break into Henry, Jr's family's office and begin to snoop, only to be found. They try to make a deal with the dad and son but the dad throws them out. Paige believes that their escapade was a waste of time but Quinn reassures her it wasn't for naught and that they just need to look for the weak link; Something that will expose the family for what they are and someone who could can get them into the house to snoop around some more. : Paige and Richard Quinn then notice Henry Jr's dad and attempt to use him to their advantage. They tempt him with a deal and Quinn coerces Paige to go on a date with the son. Despite Paige's reluctance, Quinn insists it's a good idea since the family home is much too big to search by themselves. : Paige and the detective travel back to Halliwell Manor and realize there's a problem, the entire interior of the home is black and white like Quinn once was. Piper concludes that Quinn brought some of his black-and-white world with him as they realize the effects are spreading throughout the Manor. Piper desires to send Richard back but Paige insists that she needs him to help put away the crime family, since he knows how a criminal's mind works. Phoebe says they know how to handle bad guys, but Paige points out that they know how to handle demons, not bad humans. She also explains that she doesn't want to risk anything because she loves her son too much. Piper and Phoebe agree to work on reversing the black and white in the Manor while Paige says she will see what she can find in the crime family's home. : Paige readies for the date and goes to have Henry Jr's father's home for their date. The man reveals that he likes older women causing Paige to tell him she pegged him as someone who liked girls his own age. He explains that he did have a serious relationship with someone once, but that he hasn't heard from her since she left him. He assumed she didn't like his lifestyle. Paige notices a single dollar in a frame on the wall The son says it's the first dollar his father ever laundered. Henry's father shows Paige that he has a tattoo for every person he's made "disappear" - explaining that he was only 14 years old when he made his first "disappear". There is also three tattoos of single bullets. : Paige manages to drug the man with powder hidden inside her ring by slipping it into his drink causing him to pass out on the sofa. Quickly, Paige orbs Quinn into the house. Quinn tells Paige to look for a place that might be hiding the incriminating goods - a place that would be hidden but somewhere that his ego would show it off at the same time: hiding it in plain sight. Paige figures that it has to be behind the portrait of the laundered dollar. They move the portrait and find a safe. : Using the internet know-how that Paige slipped into the spell used to conjure Quinn, Quinn is able to break into the safe, where they find an envelope, a gun, some cash and a USB drive. They check the contents of the USB on Paige's laptop. Quinn tells her that they'll have more than enough to send both father and son to prison for life. : Paige orbs Quinn back to the Manor and tends to the waking man she drugged. She leaves, saying she can't do business with a kid who can't hold his alcohol. She quickly orbs to the Manor and tells her sisters that they got what she needed. Piper informs her that Quinn ran off as soon as he was orbed back to the Manor. Phoebe wants to know what happened to Paige. She holds up a mirror and it turns out Paige herself is now in black and white. Paige proclaims to her sisters "The first one who tells me that they saw this coming is getting orbed to China". : Phoebe tells Paige and Piper that they need to get Quinn back before both Piper and herself also become black and white, saying that she's already been that before, referring to the experience with Billy and the Demon of Illusion. But Paige isn't worried about what color she is, rather about getting the evidence back on the Mercers. Paige explains that Scrying won't work since he's not real and that she can't send him back without getting the laptop back. She wants to know why Quinn left leaving Piper to explain she has a clue to that issue: Quinn is on the phone, offering a trade: the computer for being made real permanently. Paige says to meet in the Manor in an hour. They have time to put her plan in motion. : One hour later Piper answers the door and lets Quinn in, he explains he plans to keep his end of the bargain as long as the sisters do. They head upstairs as Quinn notes they seem to have fixed the black and white problem that the Manor faced - Piper says that only a few rooms have been reversed. The Attic, however, is still affected. : In the Attic, Quinn says that he knows what it took for Paige to make him, so he'll know if she's doing anything wrong. Paige performs the spell to make Quinn real. Wondering if it worked, Piper suggests he look in the mirror and wipe off the make-up from before; it doesn't smudge off. : Quinn begins to hand over the laptop to Paige, but he's been "triple-crossed". The real Paige emerges from her hiding place as fake Paige, Henry under the effects of a glamour and voice-mimicking spell, glamours back to his normal appearance. Paige points out that since Henry has no magic, any spell he performed simply wouldn't work. Quinn is confused by how his skin didn't return to grey, causing Paige to point out how useful glamours are. She then pours a potion over Quinn, sending him back into the book he was conjured from. : While the two hold Henry, Jr, Henry explains he doesn't regret what he and Paige did to keep Henry, Jr safe from the life of crime that the Mercers lived. Paige agrees, especially after what Henry, Jr's father said when Mr Cowan told him about his son. Henry wonders what it was that he said, but Paige doesn't exactly expect him to sue for custody if he gets off from the charges. : With all the information that was turned over to the police, Henry doesn't think it's likely that the Mercers will ever get off, saying the federal prosecutor said the Mercers will be going away for life. : Paige and Henry Mitchell leave the room as Henry says it was fun to be in Paige's shoes again, even if he didn't get the cool powers this time. Paige tells him she's glad that Henry, Jr has a mortal role model in the family because things will be weird enough growing up as it is. As they exit, Henry, Jr's eyes begin to glow, his hand lights up and a beam of energy shoots outward, causing his toys and his bed to become covered in ice, revealing he has the power of Ice Encapsulation. Little Henry smiles. Previews ctc-p.jpg CTC-p1.jpg Ctc-p2(1).jpg ctc-p3.jpg 9x19-PaigeMatthew'sHouse.jpg|Paige's House Comic in Progress comic19-1.jpg comic19-2.jpg comic19-3.jpg comic19-4.jpg comic19-5.jpg comic19-6.jpg comic19-7.jpg Trivia *This title is based on the novel "Crossed, Double-Crossed", written by the Mullen Brothers from the Charmed Season 7 episode, "Charmed Noir". References Category: Out of Universe Category: Charmed Comics Category: Charmed Comics Volume 3